Erdogan: Constitutional reforms key to Turkey's future

By Emin Avundukluoglu

CORUM, Turkey

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the upcoming referendum on constitutional reforms proposing among other things a transition to a presidential system is not about just one person or a party, but it is about the future of Turkey.

Addressing a rally in northern Corum province on Monday, Erdogan said: "Constitutional change is a deep rooted, national and state project."

He said leading political figures of the country, including the late Presidents, Turgut Ozal and Suleyman Demirel, and the late Prime Minister, Necmeddin Erbakan, and the founders of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and Grand Unity Party (BBP), Alparslan Turkes and Muhsin Yazicioglu, support the proposed presidential system.

He said: "They have seen the key to Turkey's permanent stability in the presidential system."

He added the upcoming vote on April 16 was never about a person or a political party. "This is a reform related to Turkey's future," Erdogan said.

Next Sunday, Turkish voters will be asked to vote Yes or No to an 18-article constitutional reform bill that would shift the country from a parliamentary system of governance to a presidential one.

The Yes campaign is backed by the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party and the opposition MHP, while the main opposition Republican People's Party has conducted a No campaign.

By Emin Avundukluoglu

CORUM, Turkey

Addressing a rally in northern Corum province on Monday, Erdogan said: "Constitutional change is a deep rooted, national and state project."

He said: "They have seen the key to Turkey's permanent stability in the presidential system."

He added the upcoming vote on April 16 was never about a person or a political party. "This is a reform related to Turkey's future," Erdogan said.

Next Sunday, Turkish voters will be asked to vote Yes or No to an 18-article constitutional reform bill that would shift the country from a parliamentary system of governance to a presidential one.

The Yes campaign is backed by the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party and the opposition MHP, while the main opposition Republican People's Party has conducted a No campaign.